Show how eskimos Eskimo catch eels to feed doss dogs dip nets used through h holes cut in ice saint so tit Tl chael alasline Al aslin early every inter diluter vast nur numbers ibers of eels come down the yukon river toward tile sen and tile lie methods used by eskimos to catch thein for foe log dog feed Is novel the lower yukon freezes early in december and when the ice fee Is a about el six inches thick the Es eskimos klinos watch for the arrival of eels eskimo villages aro d along tile the lower river up to anvik the dividing line between tile the yukon indians find and Esk eskimos lmos anvik Is sito miles from tile the villages have love from froin six to twenty families each cadi with ive five or mor laore children the natives prepare dip nets 18 inches in diameter Illi meter of seal or walrus bloo the size of it leather shoe string and made with one quarter inch mesh fastened to a willow hoop trod tour foot pole when the ice Is strong enough the eskimos who own dogs end the he river eddies where eels have regular lanes of travel year after year holes cut in ice rach each dog owner cuts it a hole two feet square in the ice then somo some distance further along another one and so 90 on until alvo or six are made alt all in a line up and down the river cross to the current over tile the holes are placed grass graas mats plied piled with snow to prevent freezing A stick Is frozen upright near elicit hole bole as a guide and warning near each hole heaps of dry woods are piled hels eels do not run in small numbers first they In increase creaso to the high peak they come in a wriggling writhing inasa s of snakelike forms they pass a i given point in from froin beven to twenty minutes a few stragglers follow for foi half an all hour they aro are IS 18 inches long dark brown with a leatherlike leather like flu fill on oil back and belly loch kach has hag seven small round holes tile lie size of a pinhead on boti both fildes of the skull and a mouth like a sucker sucher their digestive organs aro are in tile the head the backbone la Is a hair hairline hairlike like gristle running tile entire length of the body they tire are all fat not a trace of loan lean meal ineat to be found on oil one of them when tile the ice Is six indies inches thick the natives tire are ready for tho the greatest event of the year the tribes have nn an unusual system of notifying each other when tile eels have arrived four young men are sent to w atch at a water holo hole three or four miles beyond their village day ally and night until eels are sighted sleep Is impossible for if they should miss tho the eel run tho natives would be minus dog feed for the long winter tito the river water comes up tip through the ice fee holes to within two or three inches of tile the top and as the wriggling masses of eels come down stream they push water ahead of them so that eliat each hole overflows tills this Is tile lie sign to the watchers of the arrival of tho the anthel hosts much of work at night lils run min so BO lose close to the iho shortest days that it Is generally night work harvesting them it Is 14 the queerest of of northern nort bern sights eights to observe 30 to 50 fur dud clad eskimos and ninny many dogs on the snow covered ice the lie rows of small boub ins fires burning brightly at tile water holes As the water begins to rise in the hole an plunges lilg his dip net in at once it Is filled with alth writhing aels as lie pulls it up tip dump the contents t upon the ice then another plunge another net full the last hole cleaned the lie eskimos anther to 0 o inspect their catch 11 ach family has bas from he five to seven beun or eleb clahe plies piles of ws eels already frozen stiff the sum duill total caught numbering well veil up in the lie hundreds the plies are arc left on the lip ko fee during a great part of the winter except when lian a sled bled load Is v wanted anted for dog feed bels are cooked with dried dogfish and the lie native natho sledge log dog receives oho one full ingal ineal per lay day eh Is served tit at night the eels eela tire are too fat men even for tl alie e oll oil loving Esk eskimos lmos but the gr grease easell Is used for cooking and lamps |